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Topic: Do you guys cook your sauce? (Read 11284 times)

Hi, I'm new to the forum. I just found this website yesterday and I love it! I've already found so many insightful and helpful comments. I've been making pizza for 6 months now and have a passion for it. I was wondering if you guys cook your sauce before you put it on your pizza. I found this website by a Pizza Maker in Atlanta. He owns Versanos Pizzeria. He says a lot of good things, but he says there is no need to cook your sauce because it will cook in the oven.

I was sure that Chris Bianco cooks his sauce before he puts it in the oven. Does anybody know for sure. I've made sauce where I just mix all the ingredients and put in on the pizza, and I've made ones where I cook the sauce beforehand. What do you like to do?

I would also be interested to know. I've been a lurker here for almost two years and far from experienced but do love making pizza from scratch

I cook my sauce for about 40 minutes but would love to know if there is a major taste difference in not cooking it as well. I also use the sauce for other things besides pizza (though I use a pizza sauce recipe) so cook up a whole batch then freeze or refrigerate the rest.

« Last Edit: March 06, 2011, 05:12:25 PM by kmitch747 »

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buceriasdon

Depends, If I'm making a thin and crispy bar room style pizza, yea I prefer a reduced sauce with stuff in it. For a Margherita an uncooked sauce just works better for taste and presentation. A few crushed blanched plum tomatos with fresh basil and garlic is hard to beat. Don

I don't, and I generally like pies with very simple (tomato, salt, and maybe a little sugar), uncooked sauces better. Having said that, my pies are generally along the lines of the Neapolitan Style. I do think there is a place for cooked sauce in certain types of pizza. For example, maybe you have a big sweet crust and lots of very flavorful toppings - you might need the concentration of a cooked sauce to balance things out.

Craig

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"We make great pizza, with sourdough when we can, commercial yeast when we must, but always great pizza."Craig's Neapolitan Garage

Talked with a pizza shop owner here in my area (and he claims to be "NY pizza" - he's not) a couple weeks back and he said that he simmered his "pizza sauce" for 8 hours like it was a badge of honor or something. I didn't have the balls to tell him I thought that's a bad idea.

Talked with a pizza shop owner here in my area (and he claims to be "NY pizza" - he's not) a couple weeks back and he said that he simmered his "pizza sauce" for 8 hours like it was a badge of honor or something. I didn't have the balls to tell him I thought that's a bad idea.

Wow,8 hours? Jeez!Is there that much water in it???

I used to eat at a Pizza shop in NY years back,and the owner cooked(simmered) his sauce every morning before opening.

They had excellent pizzas,calzones,pasta of all kinds,etc you name it.His sauce went on everything,including his pizzas.I loved the sauce too,cant remember it ever tasting over cooked or too done.

He was old school,in business for 40 years but he simmered his sauce for a few hours(about 3 hrs) before opening everyday around 11 pm.A buddy of mine worked there a few years and said they did this to thicken the sauce,thats all.They simmered on very low heat.I can understand that...but 8 hours? That would turn anything back into paste unless it was a very watery base sauce to start with!

Defining "spaghetti" is just as difficult as defining "pizza sauce". My marinara is the same for both, but my normal cooked down pizza sauce has a totally different flavor profile from any spaghetti sauce I make. If you are depriving yourself of a good cooked down pizza sauce, then you are limiting yourself.

I would not consider putting either garlic or onion, much less bell pepper in my cooked down pizza sauce, nor would I consider making spaghetti sauce without all three (marinara excepted, it only has garlic).

The only thing spaghetti sauce and pizza sauce have in common for certain is tomatoes, so saying that cooked pizza sauce is spaghetti sauce is about like saying salsa and spaghetti sauce are the same thing. They are not, even though both may be cooked or not and both are tomato based.

And just to be clear, I only take exception to the cooked=spaghetti statement, that is simply wrong. There is no "right" way to make pizza sauce, only the way you like.

for most american/deepdish/sicilian and non-neo styles, a cooked sauce is most accurate to the consistency of the nature of the beast, it seems. i would assume that due to FDA regulations, that products have to be heated to a certain temperature to be sold but this could be speculation

I have an Italian chef friend that owns a sports bar here, so naturally he has a large Italian clientele. Sometimes, just for my own entertainment, I will wait till he gets about 3 - 6 Italians at a table. They have all enjoyed some libations.

Then I will, (with the utmost sincerity) tell one of them I am really interested in making an authentic Italian Bolognaise,bechemal etc.... Do they know how to?

That is a good for at least 2 hours of shouting. And you can really learn some good Italian vulgarities.

Interesting discussion, let me throw in a different angle:About two years ago I tried an experiment. I sometimes just open a small can of Hunts tomato sauce to use as pizza sauce (sometimes with some sauteed garlic/olive oil in it) and simmer it a bit not to cook it, but to thicken it up. This time I simmered half the can, and kept the other half untouched. I dressed a pizza, half of it with the uncooked sauce and the other half with the thickened sauce (I marked the perimeter of the crust with toothpicks). After cooking and slicing, I didn't notice a taste difference between the two sides. What I DID notice, however, was that the mozz on top slid right off the "uncooked" side, and generally stayed in place on the thickened side! I'll always go for seeded, sliced fresh tomatoes when I can, but here in Utard that's only 3 months or so. Cooking the "canned tomato sauce" a little bit probably didn't change it as it is already cooked a bit, but it was an interesting experiment nonetheless.

I toyed with the idea of putting fresh crushed tomato into a bowl, and then inserting an aquarium bubbler. This would (eventually) thicken the sauce via dehydration without cooking it at all, but I haven't gone this far yet.

for most american/deepdish/sicilian and non-neo styles, a cooked sauce is most accurate to the consistency of the nature of the beast, it seems.

I'd say the complete opposite, apart from Sicilian. I know some DD Places in Chicago cook the sauce but the best, IMO is uncooked until it's put in the oven, unless that's what you mean by cooked sauce, cooked in the oven and not before.

If you buy whole canned tomatoes, and run it through a food mill to remove seeds and skins, it still seems too watery to use as a sauce. It seems you have to simmer it for about 30 minutes to thicken it up. Thoughts?

If you buy whole canned tomatoes, and run it through a food mill to remove seeds and skins, it still seems too watery to use as a sauce. It seems you have to simmer it for about 30 minutes to thicken it up. Thoughts?

No need to cook, just pour into a fine mesh strainer. 20 minutes later, it'll be less watery.